Rhetorical Style

The Uses of Language in Persuasion

Jeanne Fahnestock

A major reevaluation of the role of argument and persuasion in non-literary texts

Applies the tools of linguistics and literary stylistics to real text samples

Rhetorical Style

The Uses of Language in Persuasion

Jeanne Fahnestock

Description

A comprehensive guide to the language of argument, Rhetorical Style offers a renewed appreciation of the persuasive power of the English language. Drawing on key texts from the rhetorical tradition, as well as on newer approaches from linguistics and literary stylistics, Fahnestock demonstrates how word choice, sentence form, and passage construction can combine to create effective spoken and written arguments. With examples from political speeches, non-fiction works, and newspaper reports, Rhetorical Style surveys the arguer's options at the word, sentence, interactive, and passage levels, and illustrates the enduring usefulness of rhetorical stylistics in analyzing and constructing arguments.

Rhetorical Style

The Uses of Language in Persuasion

Jeanne Fahnestock

Author Information

Jeanne Fahnestock is Professor of English at the University of Maryland. She is the author of Rhetorical Figures in Science, and co-author of A Rhetoric of Argument.

Rhetorical Style

The Uses of Language in Persuasion

Jeanne Fahnestock

Reviews and Awards

Winner of the 2012 Rhetoric Society of America Book Award

"A rich and rewarding textbook that shows how stylistic features make for persuasion. It provides readers with a good introduction to the study of figures in the sense of classical rhetoric."--Linguist List

Rhetorical Style

The Uses of Language in Persuasion

Jeanne Fahnestock

From Our Blog

Perhaps no speech in the canon of American oratory is as famous as the 'Dedicatory Remarks' delivered in a few minutes, one hundred and fifty years ago, by President Abraham Lincoln. And though school children may no longer memorize the conveniently brief 272 words of 'The Gettysburg Address,' most American can still recall its opening and closing phrases.